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Alighieri, Dante, The Divine Comedy Hint from Dorian Gray. Anthology, The Bible (1000...)
Baillie, John, An Essay on the Sublime (1747) Baudelaire, Charles, Les Fleurs du Mal Baudelaire's stories of drugs and alcohol shocked even the French. Many of these poems describe Paris at fin de siècle. Some texts shows a satanic side of Baudelaire. Women are prostituted devils. I think these poems unfortunately lost their charm over the years. Beautiful, but not timeless. Les Fleurs du Mal is an important contribution to the discussion of the temporary and the eternal - modern ideals and historic ideals. Baudelaire was one of the first true modernists and he believed that all classic conceptions of beauty must dissappear. His romanticism was dark - he described the inevitable winter of the natural world. Legal proceedings followed. Of course. Baudelaire, Charles, Les paradis artificiels Are all paradises artificial? Is pleasure jus an illusion? Baudelaires states that spiritual needs drives a human being to use drugs. When we find only darkness beyond, we must put our faith in an artificial paradise. Baudelaire also translated DeQuincey's Confessions. He knew Gautier. Beckford, William, Valthek (1786) Blair, Robert, The Grave (1743) Graveyard poetry. Blake, William, The Marriage of heaven and hell Blake was a dark romanticist and mystic that didn't caught much attention while living. But the world has come to see that these short stories are truly remarkable. Angels, demons and the contemporary mystic Swedenborg appears, all of them as living creatures. Blake even shares a dinner with an angel. Throughout the "novel", demons are strong and powerful, angels are pathetic and weak. The texts are not easy to understand, but after the second or third reading, some really original and interesting thoughts appears in this Bible of hell. The "poems" were illustrated by William Blake, and in most editions these strange pictures are reproduced. Some people say that The Marrigage of heaven and hell is as much literature as visual art. Blake was a mystic and invented a new mythology. Urizen - reason - is the villain... Blake, William, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789) These song were also illustrated.
Inte The songs of Innocence and of Experience Blake is more socially concerned then
in The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell. The demons and angels have left the arena for
poor children and miserable parents. Many songs
preach for human kindness and pity. Blake describes the horrible
city of London in early industrialism. And he weeps. And some
might say that he was only being sarchastic. Boccaccio, Decamerone Bowles, Paul, The Sheltering Sky Bowles suggests that the sky might be a shelter hiding the neverending darkness beyond. This is a tragic story of a married couple. During their vacation in the deserts of Africa they realize- they'll never be free. In any way. Port loose himself in pondering, his wife Kit loose herself in passion. Maybe there is no such ting as a freely chosen personal destiny. Bowles used the wasteland as a metaphor for our loneliness. Dark Romanticism in the 1940s. Bowles lived in Morocco for many years, and told stories of Mr Smith - an existing vampire. Brockden Brown, Charles, Wieland and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist (1798) American Gothic before Hawthorne and Poe. Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre (1847) Jane Eyre is not a traditional heroine. She is not beautiful or rich - but she is strong. Then love comes knocking on the door. Tragedy awaits her. Still, she refuses to become the victim of a fragile heart. She loves her master with all her heart, but she can't trust him. Breathtaking story. You really sympathize with miss Eyre. Little Jane tries to please God when he calls for her. The distance between erotic and divine love decreases. The evil woman that haunts the house and sets beds on fire at night is truly frightening. Brontë, Emily, Wuthering Heights (1847) Dark Romanticism. Brutal Heathcliff loves Catherine. His childhood is a story of oppression and abuse. He dreams of revenge. Tragedy awaits him in every corner. Emily Bronte shared with us one of the most touching and dark novels ever written - a story where true love and true sorrow only exists in uncivilized and genuine hearts. She, besides Wilde and Shelley, critized the romantic era for it's false and ignorant ideals. In Wuthering Heights, characters die when parting from lovers. Burke, Edmund, A Philosophical Enquiry into Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757) This enquiry from 1756 by Edmund Burke is an introduction to the theorethical background of Dark Romanticism. A darkly romantic bible or handbook. A very interesting analysis if you would like to understand the philosophical ideas behind Dark Romanticism. Burke states that pain and danger are delightful as long as they does not affect us immediately, and that terror evokes the sublime. His combination of psychology and philosophy is just as interesting today as 250 years ago. Besides the sublime, Burke discuss other related topics, as obscurity and infinity. Read it online! Burroughs, William S, Naked Lunch Legal proceedings followed the publication of Naked Lunch in the 50s. It was considered obscene. Some editions contains excerpts from the trial and that part is maybe the most interesting - Ginsberg & Co read poems about Burroughs and his stories. Naked Lunch is the story of a drug addict. All the short stories wihtin the main story are interrelatd, but it may take three or four readings to find these connections. Every page contains obscenity - but not without a reason. It is a story about addiction and lost control - and often considered a beautiful "vision". Decadence. Byron, Lord, Cain Byron, Lord, Lara Cave Nick, The Ass Saw The Angel Not an easily read, yet interesting novel by the great musician. There is a lot of slang and dialect. I'm about to read it for the third or fourth time, and I hope I'll understande it this time. Awardwinner. Cave, Nick, King Ink I & II The lyrics of Nick Cave in two books. The lyrics is outstanding even without music. Actually, The Flesh made word in the second book is probably the most wonderful text I've ever read. While Blake invented his own Gods, Cave argues that God exists in literature - God is imaginative flight. Find your personal God, write your own bible. Cave, Nick, Two lectures Flesh made word and The secret life of the love song. Carroll, Lewis, Alice in Wonderland
Cohen, Leonard, Book of Mercy A breathtaking work. Cohen speaks of the sublime in a melancholic way. I think that his undescribable language reminds of the bible and the gospels. Like a long poem or prayer without any given answers. Cohen, Leonard, Beautiful losers Coleridge,
Samuel Taylor, The rime of the ancient mariner Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, Christabel Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness (1902) Juan de la Cruz, Libro de la noche oscura The gloomy night of the soul. Juan de la Cruz, a mystic in the 16th century, speaks of the dark journey to God. Reachin God is reaching love in its most profound shape, he states. This book actually contains easily understood texts/manuals supposed to help beginners. If you set your imagination free, and picture what God is to you, for example the unification with your lover, this becomes one of the most beautiful loves stories ever written. More mystics in the spirit of de la Cruz. De Quincey, Thomas, Confessions of an English opium eater Fin de siècle decadence. The oldest, shortest edition is once again available. At the end of the 19th century, people believed that opium cured diseases of all kinds. DeQuincey is the first abuser. After publishing Confessions, DeQuincey became famous. He describes his misuse poetically, and according to some researchers, he exaggerates his misery. Probably, he was not that poor. Anyhow, Confessions is a masterpiece by a "starving artist". Coleridge was his friend and opium abuser. De Quincey, Thomas, Murder Regarded as one of the Fine Arts Dickens, Charles, Oliwer Twist (1838) Didion, Joan, The White Album dy Maurier, Daphne, Rebecca (1938) Eco, Umberto, The Name of the Rose (1980) The once popular gothic theme, the Inquisition - Radcliffe's The Italian among others - is back with Eco's bestseller. Macabre deaths, depraved monks, medieval mystery - a detective story in a monastery. The threat is not a supernatural creature, as it first may seem, but a text. Laughter is evil, according to someone. The Name of the Rose is my favourite, for many reasons: the adventure, the mystery, the intellectual challenge, the religious symbolism. Postmodernism. Elliot, T S, The Wasteland Faulkner, William, The Sound and The Fury (1931) Flygare-Carlén, Emilie, Rosen på Tistelön A story about The Rose - a young, beautiful, innocent woman - at the Island of Thistles. This story by Swedish 19th century author Flygare-Carlén reminds of Brontë's Wuthering Heigts. Jealousy and subversive love haunts the characters in the windswept landscapes of the Swedish archipelago. This story ends with grand tragedy and I pondered over it for several weeks. Besides Lagerlöf's Kungen av Portugallien, probably one of the best Swedish darkly romanic novels. Gaiman, Neil, Smoke and Mirrors (1998) Gautier, Théophile, La Morte Amoureuse (and other short stories) A personal favourite in the spirit of Baudelaire. Short gothic stories with an unusual sense of humour. La Morte Amoureuse (The dead in love) is a beautiful story of a priest that falls in love with a vampire (!). When he is about to make his vows, he sees the woman. Adventures at night and decadence. The border between dream and reality, evil and good, is blurred. Dark Romanticism "light". Godwin, William, Caleb Williams (1794) Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, Faust A classic play. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, Leiden des jungen Werthers Goethe and Hugo are usually considered romanticists, inspired by the German Sturm und Drang, but I think that Leiden des jungen Werthers and Notre Dame de Paris are darkly romantic. This is a pathetic masterpiece of subversive love. It has often been said that all of us at some time in life get the impression that Goethe speaks only to us and no one else in the universe. Werthers fragile heart can not bear the sorrows of love. He takes drastic measures. A dark and funny story. Grimm brothters, Kinder- und Hausmärchen Classic tales. Snowwhite and the Sleeping Beauty are famous all over the world. For almost two hundred years, these stories have been read by children and adults. In som countries, at some times, the works of the german Grimm brothers were forbidden. Actually, these tales are sometimes rather grotesque. The queens, kings, princes and princesses are seldomly kind. For example, the queen that wants to see Snowhite dead is quite vicious. Scary - but at the same time the stories provide useful moral lessons for children. The queen wants to kill the prettier Snowhite - and the story ends with the queen dancing around in red-hot iron-slippers. Superficial and envious persons always get their punishment. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, Rappaccini's daughter (1844) Rappaccini's daughter is both fantasy and horror. It reminds of the late gothic story. Like Frankenstein, Rappaccini experiment with natural laws and human beings in his garden. All the beautiful flowers are poisionous. The beautiful daughter walks through the garden with her deadly breath... Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The house with the seven gables (1851) Hawthorne's most popular novel. To me, it was a disappointment. Far from Rappaccini's daughter. The ghost story is unfortunately not prominent. Boring. In the American dark romantic tradition, Poe and Melville are the masters. According to me. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Marble Faun (1860) Hoffmann, E T A, Der Sandmann Besides Frankenstein one of the most frightening "science" novels. I have heard. Hogg, James, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) Hugo, Victor, Notre Dame de Paris Quasimodo is a famous "anti-villain" besides Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll. The most beautiful marriage in history takes place in this classic novel. Does eternal love hide behind the perishable ugliness? Huysmans, Joris-Karl, A Rebours A foundation stone in the modern movement. Against nature. Irving, Washington, The legend of Sleepy Hollow You can find The legend of Sleepy Hollow in Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. This is according to me not a darkly romantic masterpiece, but it is interesting to read the story behind the Tim Burton movie. Ichabod Crane is a superstitious teacher in Irving's legend - a confused policeman in Burton's. The movie tells an almost completely different story. The headless horseman is one of the most popular legends in America. James, Henry, The Turn of the Srew Do not read The turn of the Screw if you wish to sleep well. According to many people the best ghost story ever told, and I can not disagree. Two lovely, innocent children are manipulated by evil ghosts. The people living in the house can not understand the behaviour of these children or even talk to them. The governess - the storyteller - sees an abominable woman dressed in black in the staircase at night. Can the cildren see the same thing? Can they talk to the evil woman? Or is the governess a victim of her own imagination? James, Henry, Jolly corner Teresa de Jesus, Camino de perfección Another medieval mystic. Teresa spoke of great wonders and self-denial. I believe that these mystics fascinates however strange their visions are. Teresa is convinced that she is not worthy anything and, at the same time, she is one of the chosen. Johnson, Charles, Middle Passage Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love Medieval Mystic Julian of Norwich, Showings Kafka, Franz, The Trial (1925) Franz Kafka is the predecessor of modern gothic. The main character walks the earth alone and perhaps misunderstood, powerless next to the bureacrats and maybe also God. Josef K is an isolated, socially alienated wanderer in this inhumane, gloomy world where justice has become a mystery itself. Kafka's writing relates to the horrors glimpsed by Godwin, Shelley, Hogg and Poe. Kafka, Franz, The Castle (1926) Keats, John, La belle dame sans merci Keats, John, Lamia Kempe, Margery, The book of Margery Kempe Medieval Mystic Lagerlöf, Selma, Kejsaren av Portugallien Magnificient tragedy. A farmer, living in the dark woods of Sweden, can't accept that her daughter is decadent. He thinks that he's a king. He thinks that his daughter is the queen of Portugallien - the land where everything is bright and pure. A captivating investigation of the darker sides of love. Selma Lagerlöf was interested in the supernatural - creatures from 19 century folklore appears everywhere - and wrote several ghoststories. Lagerlöf, Selma, Herr Arnes penningar Le Fanu, J S, Carmilla (1874) The vampire returns at the end of the 19th century. Carmilla is an important contribution to the gothic movement. The story have somehow lost it's charm. Some people think that Le Fanu's writing have the same qualities as Stoker's. Personally I disagree. Le Fanu, J S, Best ghost stories Lewis,
Matthew, The Monk I've heard it's a terrible story of a sadistic monk that rapes his sister in the graveyard. Seems a bit exaggerated...but it's signification can not be overestimated. The novel was written by a member of the parliament in England. While speaking of the sublime and the supernatural, The Monk is the main reference. Lindsay, Joan Weigall, Picnic at Hanging Rock This novel by the Australian writer Linday seems to be a mystery of unseen forces. Recommendation by Lian. Links about the movie made by Peter Weir: http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/hanging_rock.html Lovecraft, H P Can't wait to read him. Maupassant, Guy de, Le Horla My favourite vampire story next to Bram Stoker's Dracula.The main characters is a victim of some kind of dark, univeral forces. The dark forces sucks the life out of human beings. Paranoia. Illness. The best vampires stories were often written by authors from other genres (realism). Marlowe, Christopher, Doctor Faustus Pre-gothic horror. Maturin, Charles, Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) According to some, the last truly Gothic story. Melville, Herman, Moby Dick; or, The Whale Many people pondered over this big question while reading Moby Dick: what the hell is he talking about? There are probably thousands of suggestions what this tragic, funny novel is all about. It's merely an adventure novel, some might say. Others suggest that Moby Dick is the most outstanding darkly romantic novel of all times. These 500 pages are indeed loaded with symbols. Personally, I think the novel is primarily about the human impossibility to reach clarity. The whale, secure in the dark depths, is threatened the same moment it rises above the surface. When the whale tries to breathe, when it tries to see the sun - it is hunted down and killed. Like a human being? Melville, Herman, Billy Budd Milton, John, Paradise Lost "Red right hand" - Paradise Lost 2:160 - a famous Nick Cave song. Satan is depicted as a rebel, I have heard. Morrison, Toni, Beloved (1987) Awardwinning novel about ghosts, slavery and of course, love. Ghosts are described as natural phenomena that haunts many homes and reminds us of painful moments in our private lifes as well as in the history of mankind. The gothic drama returned in the 80s and once again gained acceptance. Nabokov, Vladimir, Lolita O'connor, Flannery, Wise Blood (1949) "Southern Gothic" in the Faulkner School. Nick Cave was inspired by O'connor when he wrote The ass saw the angel. Peake, Mervy, Gormenghast trilogy (1946 - 1959) Another recommendation by Dutch colleague Lian (http://members.lycos.nl/leesvoer/ ). Read bout the trilogy here. Poe, Edgar Allan, Tales of Mystery and Imagination Probably the first American dark romanticist. It is a common conviction that Poe was the pioneer of detective stories, fantasy and science fiction. Fascinating rhythmic language - every story is like a long poem. Some theorists suggests that the dark stories was the outcome of Poe's misery. Hw was an alcohol misuser. American fin de siècle decadence. Poe, Edgar Allan, The Fall of the House of Usher One of the novels in the collection above. The fall of the house of Usher deserves further analysis though. This short story have been adapted to the screen. It is a remarkable story of the dark forces dwelling in the House of Usher. The fall is unexplained, the reader just catch a glimpse of the forces too powerful for mankind to understand. This novel is also a perfect example of Poes extraordinary diffusion of imagination and reality, individual dreams and earthly destruction.
Polidori, John William, The Vampyre (1818) Interesting, but not frightening. Styleforming. The pioneers are seldomly the greatest authors (in contrast to musicians), but they deserve respect. The story of lord Ruthven was written by Byron's personal physician Polidori in the famous ghost story-contest between Polidori, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. Frankenstein was the winner... Prest, Thomas Preskett, Varney, the Vampire, of the Feast of Blood (1847) Probably the longest vampire tale ever written.Style forming serial story. Radcliffe, Ann, The Italian (1797) The queen of Terror novels and the most successful Gothic writer. Unfortunalety, the Italian, like many other gothic novels from the 18th century, ends with a realistic explanation of the supernatural terrors. Nontheless, this is gothic at it's best. Sublime landscapes and villains lurking everywhere. Ann Radcliffe never bores you. Ellena, the heroine longing for her lover Vivaldi, and Schedoni, the evil monk, are both gothic-romantic archetypes. The story is of course rather unbelievable. I must say I both like and dislike the novel. Imaginative -. but not much of an intellectual challenge. I prefer the dark Romantic novels from the 19th and 20th century. Radcliffe, Ann, The Romance of the Forest (1791) Radcliffe, Ann, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) Reagés, Pauline, Histoire d'O The gothic novel returns in 1954. Rice, Ann, Interview with the vampire A popular vampire story, also adapted to the screen some years ago. Anne Rice wrote three, maybe four or five, novels with the characters presented in this first part. These books are quite funny, with an original touch of humour - the vampires gets bored and sick of living through the centuries. Interview with the vampire is a story of human beings with limited lifetime. The vampires long to die. Roche, Regina Maria, Clermont (1798) Imitator of Radcliffe. Rydberg, Viktor, Singoalla The Swedish author Victor Ryberg, from the town Jonkoping, close to where I live, wrote this fascinating story that takes place in the Middle Ages. But his romantic description of medieval beauty soon becomes a horror story. The country is ridden by the Plague and the disease kills many of the characters. An affable, popular story with supernatural elements. de
Sade, Marquis, Justine,
ou les Malheurs de la Vertu Marquis de Sade political and social concerns are often forgotten today. de Sade, Marquis, Les 120 Journees de Sodome Schiller, Friedrich von, Der Geisterseher Scott, Walter, The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) Shakespeare, William, Hamlet Tragic drama. Shakespeare, William, Romeo and Juliet Shelley, Percy Bysshe, The Cenci Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) When we think of Frankenstein, we often think of the reanimating scientific process - thar part where the creature is brought to life. But there are many other captivating parts in this novel - when Frankenstein's monster approach other human beings. He doesn't live by the rules of the society - the human beings wish the creature dead and buried. Frankenstein was the first real science fiction story and a brutal criticism of the "enlighted" human being that attempts to do what only God can do. There can be only one creator. The influence of the novel can't be overestimated. Stevenson, Robert Louis, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the first story where the evil threat - literary - comes from within. Evil is not manifested in a supernatural villain. An outside evil creature can be killed. But can you kill an inside evil creature? I don't think that Stevenson merely critized the use of drugs and lab experiments. He portrayed sides of human nature we often pretend doesn't exist. Stevenson was a calvinist. Stoker,
Bram, Dracula According to me, a story of eternal love. The traditional vampire myth. Dracula is one of the most popular gothic stories. Madman van Helsing hunts Vlad Tepes in Transsylvania. The vampire is not a monster from the dark forest - he is a sophisticated man traveling through the centuries to find true love. The vampire is no longer an supernatural monster - Dracula is human. Stoker, Bram, The lair of the white worm Swinburne, Charles Algernon, Poems Söderberg, Hjalmar, Doktor Glas Swedish author. (Thanks Amanda again.) The main character is a lonely, tormented doctor. Love and murder. A stilistic masterpiece. Anti-transcendentalism at its best. The doctor breaks social and moral laws. "We want to be loved; failing that, admired; failing that, feared, failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs for contact." Thomas, Dylan, Poems Dylan
Thomas wrote that he had an angel, a madman and a beast within. He
dreamed about vampires - Bela Lugosi - before he drank himself to
death. More to come! Walpole, Horace, The Castle of Otranto (1764) The first Gothic story. The Castle of Otranto was written in eight weeks in the late 1764. Walpole is today considered a great pioneer even though the story is not that frightening today. A giant helmet falls down from heaven, statues bleed...Lord Manfred is a tyrant in the old castle and his behavior is analyzed over and over again - some say that the story has an emphasis on sexual fear and others say that Walpole's reason was out of order. Walpole's novel was also the first automatization novel - the author was only a medium - which later became a method for surrealists. The Castle of Otranto, as many other Gothic novels, deals with feudal tyranny and aristocratic villainy. Wilde, Oscar, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) Darkly romantic masterpiece! The main character, Dorian Gray, is a pleasure-seeker. His soul putrefies. Wilde sure in aim describes the psychotic behavior of a human being that refuse to accept that outer beauty must grow old and die. A brutal cirique of the Victorian, hypocritical society and fin de sécle decadence. Wilde, Oscar, The complete Fairy Tales of... Short stories of princes, nightingales and giants. Traditional fairy tales with a dark twist, typical for Oscar Wilde. The Nightingale and The Rose, a fairy tale about shallow love, is my favourite.
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